SILVERTON, Ohio — She thought it’d be bigger.
Channy Heng opens an envelope with something she’s been fighting for ever since she moved to America. She smiles and laughs. Heng throws two fingers into a peace sign. Then, she gives a thumbs up.
“Thank you!” she shouts.
The 69-year-old woman doesn’t speak much English, but she knows how to say thank you. And she said it several times on a recent afternoon in Silverton.
She’s talking to her immigration attorney. But she’s also talking to WCPO 9 News.
We first brought light to her story in October. It was the story of a family stuck in limbo — all because of a marriage where the husband and wife didn’t speak the same language.
Heng met her husband in Cambodia, where she grew up. Charles Clay was a Marine veteran reckoning with his military service during the Vietnam War. The two married in 2007, and Heng moved to Cincinnati with a fiancée visa.
“I became her tall American hero,” Clay once said in an affidavit reviewed by WCPO 9. “Right away we fell in love with each other.”
But when Heng applied for permanent residence, Cincinnati immigration officials denied her a marriage-based green card. They said she gave inconsistent interviews and couldn’t speak English.
Those officials concluded it was a fraudulent marriage used to circumvent immigration laws. Heng sued to overturn the ruling, saying hearing loss and health issues contributed to problems during her interviews.
Heng’s case dragged on for years, and Clay died in 2018.
“What else does the government want from us?” he said in a sworn statement before his death. “I love my wife, and I love her children.”
After our report, immigration officials re-opened Heng’s case. And now, they’ve done more than that.
In her attorney’s office, Heng opens her green card. She’s stunned. Her son laughs because the picture on his card came from when he was a teenager. Vannak Sok shakes the attorney’s hand. Then, he thanks his stepfather — someone who took his brother to soccer games and watched “The Price is Right” with his mom.
“He fought for us for a long time,” Sok said.
And in a few years, Sok can apply to become a United States citizen.
